Nice use of locations and costumes. The woman walking alone at night was a bit of a cliche victim but the duo of paranoid idiots were on the mark for this genre.
If they came out the back of Reading Courtenay shouldn't they be heading up Opera House Lane from the other end? ;-)

I actually saw one of this teams production stills on social media and was thinking oh dear, not another 'boys with toys', gun toting, American imitating, macho fest :-s
Well I sure guessed wrong! This story was really fun with a witty script and two fab female characters.

One of the most well crafted films of this heat with nice photography and great sound editing. I struggled with the character arc a bit as the guy was so aggressive, he didn't show enough remorse to redeem himself enough to deserve being rescued by Lucy. It's a bit cliche, but it gives audiences a more satisfying emotional journey.

Great concept with fairly decent execution. Story could have been a little clearer, was probably a bit difficult to follow due to the sound mix. The theatrical version was a bit jerky, unlike the virtual experience which was brilliant.

I had low expectations as this film got underway but then it leaped up a notch with a hilarious "Weekend at Bernie's" style of puppeteering dead dad in classic movie scene reenactments for a school homework assignment. A surprisingly quick and funny film.

In the future a rigid insurance policy will keep you well protected... even when you're trying to kill yourself. This premise resulted in a deadpan quirky film. I loved the cardboard bionic prosthetics and the vfx.

Really nice character development of the failed sound recordist and fun treatment of mixing up the Wilheim scream. I think this was a clever film and well received by the audience. I didn't like the plot unfolding with the murdering but I get why the writing went there.

I misinterpreted this film to begin with because of the team name High Anxiety, I surmised we were following a character who was hiding from her house mates due to having an anxiety disorder, I was completely confused by the knife and arrest to begin with.

This was a good original film. I particularly liked the dumping of the "garbage" shots. I think they needed to cut the candidates sequence quite a few beats earlier, it was really good but then it began to drag but that's a small criticism as this film looked like a lot of work for the editor and they did some very good work. The mystery built up to a good reveal, I liked the full body wrapped in Christmas paper, nice image to finish with. Bravo.

Hilarious! This film was a gem.
Sending up Y2K was a brilliant idea. This film was brimming with comedy gold: 1999 retro, p.o.v. pissed at a party, zombie or hungover (who cares, what's the diff?), splitting a napkin between three in desperate need of loo paper. This was great execution of great ideas and by far the funniest film of the first four heats.

Shoo in for a best cinematography nomination. This film kicked off with a great opening sequence with a car at dusk driving in to the night with a foreboding like the beginning of The Shining . Followed by three young people on a quest to find a missing person reminiscent of Stand By Me. There were brief moments where this film wavered a little but they'd established a quality production which carried it through. Rounded out with a great ending of Blair Witch creepiness.

Doing a sequel was ideal for this 'Ultra challenge' team, picking up with the explorer falling down the crevasse was a great opening.
Bongo's production values have ramped up a notch since their previous entries and this latest animation was stunning. Funnily enough I kind of missed their slow paced awkward style which is such a superb part of their comic timing (Let's Play, 2015). Some of the funniest audio in this film was almost drowned out by the audience already in fits of laughter.

This was a well written character study with very good performances, from the female lead especially. Some subtle makeup on the choking victim (eg blue lips) would have been great to see to really finesse the scene.

That was ULTRA nailed.
But without a guide to the elements they were including, the achievement was a bit lost on the audience. I recognised the character name and line of dialogue but would have benefitted from doing my homework and watching their previous film first.

Good little technique of kicking off with a shot that is confusing to the audience which we then come to understand at the climax of the film; who is this guy....and what is on his face?
Nice photography included a nice montage of nice Wellington spots.

This team delivered on a great concept. This had the gem of something I could see as a stand-alone funded short. My scribbled note from the heat; "they nailed that... whatever it was".
Keep at it clever Daguerreotype, I'm already keen to see what you make next year!

Realistically the only contender for finals in this heat, Couch Kumaras are in that league of 48 veterans who deliver beyond the average competitors.
A wholly enjoyable film, I particularly loved the opening setup. Did they cast that actor from Mr Robot?

It's uncanny that I happened to be watching some old black & white footage by David Attenborough the day before seeing this short. The vintage stylizing was bang on.
Packed with great elements (I loved the p.o.v. of the feet shots) this film came very close to nailing it. Has Wild Card potential for sheer fun & wackyness.

This was a pretty good looking film but I was lost with the plot, the notes I made in the dark say fencing, bee sting, Blair Witch. When the violin score kicked in I thought that was very cool... but then it went on a bit too long.

Great film to start of the heat. Nice work with the web page and the writing on the package for reveal of the character name & line, well done creatively there. Cool to see lots of Wellington on screen, the Paramount cameo was superb.
Felt it strung out a little too long. Probably would have worked just as well with only one gag scene of the guy out with the doll. I'd have ended on the laugh at the website and then tucked just a couple of the doll date scenes in to the credit roller. They worked so well you didn't need a lot of them.